The Good Life

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. John 20:1-9

Jesus began his public ministry by announcing that the Kingdom of God had come — and that it was available to everybody and anybody. He modeled that reality in how he lived and how he died — “forgive them”, “today you will be with me in paradise,” “it is finished.” And then he didn’t stay dead! He was resurrected just as he said he would be, just as the profits of old said that he should be, the risen King with the power and authority of a King. He is at this moment sitting at the right hand of Father God interceding, pleading for you. His desire is that you live in richly interactive relationship with him.

What does this relationship look like? It is a relationship marked by confidence in Jesus. It is the kind of confidence that empowers you to live your actual life within the rule and reign of God; seeking first His Kingdom, and in that living in such a way that your actions (the way you live, what you do) reflect a good that is greater than your individually bodily existence.

God wants something bigger for you. God wants you to thrive. God wants you to experience the you you were meant to be; fully loved and significant, experiencing his presence in real and tangible way, with a fulness that so shapes your days that even when things are unclear or even painful or scary that you are able to move forward with a courage, hope and expectation that changes you and changes the world. This is the life that God wants for you — wants so much that he died for it, wants so much that he rose from the grave, concurring death and the many other things that try to convince you that you are subject to their authority when in fact their authority died even as Jesus was raised. This is the life Jesus wants for you — the good life — and it’s yours for the asking because he has risen.